The Polish Sejm rejected the draft of the new Abortion Law prepared by the social democrats. The members of the parliament, exhorted by the right-wind parties and bishops to block the act, refused to even hold a debate on this topic and removed the work on the draft from the agenda.
The current Antiabortion Law, in force in Poland, allows for the termination of the pregnancy only when it threatens the woman’s life or health, or when the foetus is irreversibly damaged or when the pregnancy resulted from rape. Very often however, the doctors refuse to carry out a procedure even when there are justified reasons for this in the act. The Polish Federation for Woman and Family Planning – a non-government organization handling women’s rights – announces that an abortion underground has been developed and thrives perfectly in Poland and that around 150 thousand illegal abortions are carried out annually in Poland.
The draft of the new act was supposed to eliminate these negative issues. It provided an opportunity for woman to have an abortion before the 12th week without stating a reason. After this timeline she could have the procedure if the pregnancy threatened her life or health, resulted from rape, or the foetus was severely handicapped. In addition to this, it also introduced sexual education starting from the first grade of elementary school and additional state funding for in vitro fertilization.
In October 2004, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed its concerns on the abortion law in Poland and recommended for the Polish government to carry out the liberalization of the act and the practice concerning the application of the act in force.
